Camille Sébastian Nachet apprenticed in the shop of Vincent Chevalier 1833-1839.
After his apprenticeship was completed Camille opened a shop in Parisian at rue Boucher 1. He moved four times, ending at rue Serpente 16.
Camille Nachet originally made achromatic objectives for other Paris makers. However, in 1842 he started making microscopes. These were signed Nachet Opticien.
Rue des Grands Augustins 1
Paris.
In 1847 Camille’s son, Jean Alfred joined the firm and continued to make microscopes.
By 1862 the Nachet firm was run entirely by Jean Alfred. They continued to make high-quality microscopes including specialized instruments for chemical analysis and for polarized light microscopy. During this era instruments were first engraved Nachet et Fils.
rue Serpente 16, Paris
17 rue St. Severin. Paris
Albert Nachet joined Jean Alfred in the 1890s. Around that time the firm began engraving their instruments Nachet.
17 rue St. Severin
PARIS
17 St. Severin
Paris
17. rue St. Severin
Paris
By the mid 1890s Albert had assumed control of the Nachet firm. The instruments of that era were then engraved Nachet et Fils because Albert was still involved.
17 Rue St Sélverin
Paris
17 rue St Severin
Paris
In the late 1890s Alfred and Albert took over the optical houses of (first) Hartnack & Prazmowski, then Bezu, Hauser and Cie.
During this time the Nachet family collected historical microscopes. Their collection became one of the great historical collections of France. In 1929 Albert published the catalog of the Nachet collection. It was abandoned in the 1960s, but we are fortunate to have a number of instruments from the original collection.
